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iPhone J.D. is the oldest and largest website for lawyers using iPhones and iPads. iPhone J.D. is published by Jeff Richardson, an attorney in New Orleans, Louisiana. This site does not provide legal advice, and any opinions expressed on this site are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of Jeff's law firm, Adams and Reese LLP. iPhone J.D. is not associated with Apple, Inc.

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Pursuant to 16 CFR Part 255, the Federal Trade Commission's Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, please note: (1) iPhone software and hardware developers routinely send me free versions of their products to review. I sometimes keep and continue to use these products that I did not pay for after posting my review, which might be considered a form of compensation for my review, but I do not believe that I let that color my review. (2) When I post links to product pages on certain stores, including but not limited to Amazon and the iTunes App Store, my links include a referral code so that when products are purchased after clicking on the link, I often receive a very small percentage of the sale. This helps to defray some of the cost of running this site, and gives me a small vested interest in having readers of iPhone J.D. purchase products using these links. Again I do not believe that I let that color my review of products. (3) Some of the ads that run on this website are selected by others such as Amazon or Google. If one of these ads comes from the seller of a product reviewed on iPhone J.D., that is a coincidence and I do not believe that it colors my review of that product. Other ads are from paid advertisers, and if I discuss a product from a company that is a current advertiser, I will note that. (4) Some of the ads that run on this website are from monthly sponsors of iPhone J.D. When I discuss products from these companies on iPhone J.D., I do so to pass along information provided to me by the sponsor. Often, I will also provide my own commentary on the product, and while my goal is to be honest, please keep in mind that I was compensated to promote the product. If you have any questions about this, just send me an e-mail or post a comment on a specific product review.

October 23, 2017

After Hurricane Katrina, lack of dependable cell phone service was one of the major problems for those of us who were in New Orleans and the surrounding areas. And when I say "surrounding" I don't just mean the Greater New Orleans area; I'm talking about over hundred miles away. Katrina caused huge areas in Louisiana and Mississippi to lose power, and also damaged many cell towers. At the same time, people had an even greater need to use cellphones to try to locate friends and families, putting even greater strain on the networks. As a result, it was incredibly difficult to use a cellphone to make a call. I remember driving around Mississippi to find a spot with weak cellphone connectivity and then having to redial over-and-over again to try to get service. And I remember how relieved I was every time I was able to confirm someone's safety and whereabouts. Back in 2005, text messaging was far less popular than it is today, and many folks (me included) discovered that even if you couldn't make or receive a call, you could often make and receive text messages. Even a limited ability to send and receive text messages made a huge difference in the recovery effort. And Katrina was not unique in this respect; I've heard many stories of other disasters after which it was difficult to use cellphones.

The situation in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria is horrible on many different levels, but I know that one of the many problems is limited to non-existent cellphone service. Thus, I was delighted to read an article by Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch describing how better cellphone service will soon be coming to Puerto Rico through the combined efforts of many different parties. Panzarino provides the details, but in short, AT&T and Apple are tapping into a currently-unused (and unlicensed) part of the spectrum which will let working cellphone towers do more, Google is sending its Project Loon balloons to the region to provide even greater cellphone coverage, and the FCC is giving emergency licenses to make all of this possible. The article says that the additional coverage will still be limited, but it should be enough for many more folks to send text messages.

I have no doubt that this joint effort will do a lot of good as folks in Puerto Rico undertake the long recovery process.

Comments

After Hurricane Katrina, lack of dependable cell phone service was one of the major problems for those of us who were in New Orleans and the surrounding areas. And when I say "surrounding" I don't just mean the Greater New Orleans area; I'm talking about over hundred miles away. Katrina caused huge areas in Louisiana and Mississippi to lose power, and also damaged many cell towers. At the same time, people had an even greater need to use cellphones to try to locate friends and families, putting even greater strain on the networks. As a result, it was incredibly difficult to use a cellphone to make a call. I remember driving around Mississippi to find a spot with weak cellphone connectivity and then having to redial over-and-over again to try to get service. And I remember how relieved I was every time I was able to confirm someone's safety and whereabouts. Back in 2005, text messaging was far less popular than it is today, and many folks (me included) discovered that even if you couldn't make or receive a call, you could often make and receive text messages. Even a limited ability to send and receive text messages made a huge difference in the recovery effort. And Katrina was not unique in this respect; I've heard many stories of other disasters after which it was difficult to use cellphones.

The situation in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria is horrible on many different levels, but I know that one of the many problems is limited to non-existent cellphone service. Thus, I was delighted to read an article by Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch describing how better cellphone service will soon be coming to Puerto Rico through the combined efforts of many different parties. Panzarino provides the details, but in short, AT&T and Apple are tapping into a currently-unused (and unlicensed) part of the spectrum which will let working cellphone towers do more, Google is sending its Project Loon balloons to the region to provide even greater cellphone coverage, and the FCC is giving emergency licenses to make all of this possible. The article says that the additional coverage will still be limited, but it should be enough for many more folks to send text messages.

I have no doubt that this joint effort will do a lot of good as folks in Puerto Rico undertake the long recovery process.